Chapter 18: Losing control Beast Boy felt the pink cat-girl increase the pressure on his throat before, suddenly the warehouses' lights died. But the deadly claws didn't remove until a very familiar voice echoed through the darkness.
"You might know your way around in darkness but you forget that you're in my element now."
Beast Boy managed a smile, hearing Raven's voice before he felt the claws remove suddenly from his throat as he heard his attacker cry out in surprise and pain as something slammed into her. "Talk about good timing," Beast Boy said before he felt a hand on his shoulder.
"Now is not the time for a comedy club," Raven said in her deadpan voice, before purple magic illuminated her concentrated face as she began healing his slashed shoulder.
"Rae, I think my foot is…worse off than that little scratch," the green boy groaned.
"Doesn't sound like it," the half-demon retorted, but shifted her attention to the twisted ankle nonetheless and the shape-shifter cried out in pain as his bone relocated once again.
"Not so hard! Are you trying to heal it…or breaaa-"
"Quit whining," Raven cut in, unable to hear his high-pitched voice become even louder than usual. And suddenly the purple glow disappeared as the half-demon suddenly jolted to the left as something collided with her.
Raven managed to get back onto her feet only for something to pull on her cloak and swing her against the wall. She got up only in time to form a shield and block another attack.
That girl was quick and strong and to top it off, had excellent sight in darkness. Raven decided to switch to offence. "Azarath, Metrion, Zinthos!" With the muttering of her mantra, the metallic remains of the staircase left by the T-Rex lifted and wrung themselves around the cat-girl. The outline of her body remained in its spot, indicating that she had finally managed to restrain the feline. "Anata wa hontoni anata ga kata to omoimasu ka?" the cat-girl said with confidence before Raven heard sounds of moving metal echoing through the darkness. She saw the shadowed figure, having the railing that held her captive just moments ago in her hand. "Strength won't help you. You have to show me more if you want to impress me."
With that, the shadow bent the metal railing, turning it into a make-shift spear before throwing it at the half-demon.
Raven floated upwards before a second one flew towards her but she managed to stop its motion right before it went into her forehead by using her magic. The second spear floated up to the second one before with a flick of her hand, they broke up into rods. "Still think of fighting?" Raven asked, the numerous rods waiting for a signal to be propelled forward.
"Dono yo ni anata wa watashi no sonzai ga sukina nodesu ka?"
"I don't like the tone in your voice," Raven replied before the rods shot forward.
With skillful, quick flips and twists, Nya-Nya managed to jump out of each of the rods' way before a last one shot at her face. She caught it in mid-flight before she chuckled.
"That was only a warm-up," Raven said and her hands glowed with dark energy.
But something caught her eyes – a blinking light that came from the attacker's hand. Raven's hands flicked once and suddenly the warehouse received its light back – and her eyes stared back in utter horror, realizing that the pink feline had Terra's hair in her grasp, pulling her upwards so that she was facing her.
The former Titan had a nasty wound on the side of her head as well as a few bruises on her eye and cheek. But what caused Raven slowly to lose her cool was the fact that she was most probably responsible that Terra was unconscious.
"Anata wa mada anata ga chansu o motte iru to omoi masu ka?" Nya-Nya spoke triumphantly before the device in her other hand played her recorded voice. "Do you still think you have a chance?"
Boxes of different sizes flew up to the half-demon and she narrowed her eyes. "Let her go or I will crush you!"
The pink feline muttered something in Japanese again before her recorded voice sounded through the warehouse. "Crush me and she will be crushed as well."
Terra's head lifted a bit higher, as the girl pulled harder on her hair and Raven clenched her teeth in anger.
"What do you want?" the half-demon asked.
The recorded voice answered her. "You knew what I wanted. You knew who I was…but you were unable to protect him."
Raven felt the anger within her increasing.
"All you did was hope for him to come back to his senses, not realizing that mere words wouldn't affect him anymore – not after you denied him friendship with Terra-chan."
"You're lying!" Raven shouted angrily, pipes now joining the boxes in the air.
"Why are you angry? I saw you talking to Beast Boy so he would stop seeing me and saw your other friends being angry with him when he didn't answer his communicator. And I saw you stalking us."
"Because I knew I couldn't trust you!" Raven screamed, her cool suddenly leaving her.
"Was it because you couldn't trust me? Is that the same reason you didn't let him see Terra-chan?" Nya-Nya's recorded voice said, making Terra's head tilt slightly.
"Shut up!" Raven screeched as her blood red eyes shot down at her.
"Oh, I guess I hit a soft spot. And you know I like to slice soft things apart."
"Don't you dare touch her!" Raven growled as the dark energy surrounded her body. "Don't worry! I won't if you don't make me," the voice played before Nya-Nya set her claws upon the girl's throat.
"What do you want?" Raven said, trying hard to keep herself restrained.
A smirk played on the girl's lips before she spoke and the recorded voice sounded through the warehouse. "I want him!"
"N-No!" Raven cried after seeing her finger pointed at Beast Boy and she dropped to the floor as she fought with her inner demon, the boxes and pipes dropping after her.
"But you on the other hand…you can be trouble and I can't let you foil my plan." With a giant leap, the pink feline reached up to the struggling Raven and shot out her claw.
"Raven!" the shape-shifter cried before suddenly, the ground in front of the half-demon turned to a make-shift shield.
The shield crumbled upon impact and Raven fell backwards before she looked up and her red eyes stared in awe as Terra stood with glowing yellow eyes in front of her.
"Don't touch my friends!" Terra shouted in rage and her hands shot up, causing cracks to appear on the celling before a part of the wall behind the former Titan shot at the cat-girl. She evaded with a jump before she simply smashed the next one, coming up in front of the blonde-haired girl and sending her fist into her stomach. Terra clenched her hands, the ground under her shaking before a piece of the floor caught the girl in her jaw and tripped backwards.
The blonde-haired girl suddenly gasped, realizing that the cracks didn't stop forming. "I-I…can't stop it!" she cried and dropped to her knees, trying to make the trembling under her stop as well.
"Yes, you can!"
Terra looked up at those words as the cracks around her began to grow longer.
"Don't fight her!" Beast Boy called.
Both, Raven and Terra looked in astonishment at the shape-shifter.
Nya-Nya looked in surprise at the scene that occurred around her before she chuckled, catching their attention. "I didn't know you had such a deep connection with each other," the recorded voice spoke before Nya-Nya stepped up to the shape-shifter and forced his eyes away from the two girls on the ground.
"Sono ketsugo o setsudan suru koto ga yori tanoshiku narimasu," Nya-Nya purred in delight before grabbing the shape-shifter by his arm and dragged him to the middle of the room.
"Makes it more fun to break that bond," the recorded voice said and all 3 looked up at the pink feline before she grinned cruelly at the male Titan.
Meanwhile Robin, Cyborg and Starfire found themselves on the coast of Jump City, looking back at their partially destroyed Tower as smoke rose from the upper part of it.
"I'd really like to know who managed to get past my security systems and plant a time-bomb inside the tower," Cyborg said angrily, still shocked to see that his beloved Tower was demolished by something so small. "I don't think it was a timer," Robin said, surprising the half-robot. "I think it was a sensor…or even remote controlled."
"So you mean there might be someone who has enough of the 'grudge' to try to destroy us from within our tower?" Starfire asked.
Robin lowered his gaze, his burning Tower bringing too much pain as a certain memory replayed in his head. "There are many villains who would if they had the chance, but didn't. So it must be someone…Beast Boy knows," he said and Cyborg stepped forward, knowing which direction the conversation was going to take.
"But it could be anyone who might have just some knowledge of our Tower. I mean Brother Blood also once got hold of my blueprints," the half-robot retorted.
"No, Cyborg! It must be someone close to Beast Boy. He said that someone right out came into his room and attacked him. So he certainly wouldn't look for information, valuables or such in Beast Boy's room. And do I need to tell you? Beast Boy was attacked in his sleep. If he hadn't been awake, he might even not be alive!"
Cyborg dropped his head, realizing that he had lost this argument.
"So you mean that the one who attacked Beast Boy…was Terra?" Starfire asked, gaining a confused stare from Cyborg.
Robin walked past her before he stopped briefly. "I don't want to believe it either. But it's either her…or Slade!"
"And you believe…Raven went after them?" Cyborg asked.
"I'm afraid so. She can't fight for long with those wounds she got from the explosion. We all can't. And that's why we only have to focus on Beast Boy and Raven. Whatever you do…don't get into any fight," Robin said, flinching as another jab of pain cruised through him. "Let's go!"
With that, the 3 Titans started their search.
A sudden beeping and blinking filled the warehouse and Nya-Nya cocked her head to the side. Beast Boy reached for the device in her hand before she took hold of his wrist.
"Oso sugiru," she spoke arrogantly…before crushing the communicator in her hand, causing 3 pairs of eyes to stare in disbelief at the remains on the floor. "Soredewa, saisho ni kare no kanjo ni ataeru dare ga mite mimashou…"
Her taunting words were followed by a pained scream from the shape-shifter as she twisted his wrist of the fist that was still in her grip.
"Beast Boy!"
Wanting to help but fearing their loss of control, the two girls remained on the ground, trying to get their powers to obey them.
The pink feline evaded a fist of the shape-shifter before grabbing his throat and lifting him one-handedly. The changeling shut his eyes as the pain gave rise to the familiar feeing of destruction – of wanting to release the Beast.
"It's not the thing inside of you that makes you a monster, but knowing when to let it out that makes you a man."
"You go. You're the hero."
How could he be a hero…if he couldn't even save himself? Maybe…now was the time to let it out – to lose control? That was how Terra defeated Slade – how Raven defeated Trigon – how he defeated Adonis.
He felt his strength slipping as the grip became tighter and he realized that he was running out of choices.
His eyes snapped open and blurred colors faced him.
And being overwhelmed with pure rage, the 3 teens let out earsplitting screams, before a sudden surge of energy flowed through them.
"You might know your way around in darkness but you forget that you're in my element now."
Beast Boy managed a smile, hearing Raven's voice before he felt the claws remove suddenly from his throat as he heard his attacker cry out in surprise and pain as something slammed into her. "Talk about good timing," Beast Boy said before he felt a hand on his shoulder.
"Now is not the time for a comedy club," Raven said in her deadpan voice, before purple magic illuminated her concentrated face as she began healing his slashed shoulder.
"Rae, I think my foot is…worse off than that little scratch," the green boy groaned.
"Doesn't sound like it," the half-demon retorted, but shifted her attention to the twisted ankle nonetheless and the shape-shifter cried out in pain as his bone relocated once again.
"Not so hard! Are you trying to heal it…or breaaa-"
"Quit whining," Raven cut in, unable to hear his high-pitched voice become even louder than usual. And suddenly the purple glow disappeared as the half-demon suddenly jolted to the left as something collided with her.
Raven managed to get back onto her feet only for something to pull on her cloak and swing her against the wall. She got up only in time to form a shield and block another attack.
That girl was quick and strong and to top it off, had excellent sight in darkness. Raven decided to switch to offence. "Azarath, Metrion, Zinthos!" With the muttering of her mantra, the metallic remains of the staircase left by the T-Rex lifted and wrung themselves around the cat-girl. The outline of her body remained in its spot, indicating that she had finally managed to restrain the feline. "Anata wa hontoni anata ga kata to omoimasu ka?" the cat-girl said with confidence before Raven heard sounds of moving metal echoing through the darkness. She saw the shadowed figure, having the railing that held her captive just moments ago in her hand. "Strength won't help you. You have to show me more if you want to impress me."
With that, the shadow bent the metal railing, turning it into a make-shift spear before throwing it at the half-demon.
Raven floated upwards before a second one flew towards her but she managed to stop its motion right before it went into her forehead by using her magic. The second spear floated up to the second one before with a flick of her hand, they broke up into rods. "Still think of fighting?" Raven asked, the numerous rods waiting for a signal to be propelled forward.
"Dono yo ni anata wa watashi no sonzai ga sukina nodesu ka?"
"I don't like the tone in your voice," Raven replied before the rods shot forward.
With skillful, quick flips and twists, Nya-Nya managed to jump out of each of the rods' way before a last one shot at her face. She caught it in mid-flight before she chuckled.
"That was only a warm-up," Raven said and her hands glowed with dark energy.
But something caught her eyes – a blinking light that came from the attacker's hand. Raven's hands flicked once and suddenly the warehouse received its light back – and her eyes stared back in utter horror, realizing that the pink feline had Terra's hair in her grasp, pulling her upwards so that she was facing her.
The former Titan had a nasty wound on the side of her head as well as a few bruises on her eye and cheek. But what caused Raven slowly to lose her cool was the fact that she was most probably responsible that Terra was unconscious.
"Anata wa mada anata ga chansu o motte iru to omoi masu ka?" Nya-Nya spoke triumphantly before the device in her other hand played her recorded voice. "Do you still think you have a chance?"
Boxes of different sizes flew up to the half-demon and she narrowed her eyes. "Let her go or I will crush you!"
The pink feline muttered something in Japanese again before her recorded voice sounded through the warehouse. "Crush me and she will be crushed as well."
Terra's head lifted a bit higher, as the girl pulled harder on her hair and Raven clenched her teeth in anger.
"What do you want?" the half-demon asked.
The recorded voice answered her. "You knew what I wanted. You knew who I was…but you were unable to protect him."
Raven felt the anger within her increasing.
"All you did was hope for him to come back to his senses, not realizing that mere words wouldn't affect him anymore – not after you denied him friendship with Terra-chan."
"You're lying!" Raven shouted angrily, pipes now joining the boxes in the air.
"Why are you angry? I saw you talking to Beast Boy so he would stop seeing me and saw your other friends being angry with him when he didn't answer his communicator. And I saw you stalking us."
"Because I knew I couldn't trust you!" Raven screamed, her cool suddenly leaving her.
"Was it because you couldn't trust me? Is that the same reason you didn't let him see Terra-chan?" Nya-Nya's recorded voice said, making Terra's head tilt slightly.
"Shut up!" Raven screeched as her blood red eyes shot down at her.
"Oh, I guess I hit a soft spot. And you know I like to slice soft things apart."
"Don't you dare touch her!" Raven growled as the dark energy surrounded her body. "Don't worry! I won't if you don't make me," the voice played before Nya-Nya set her claws upon the girl's throat.
"What do you want?" Raven said, trying hard to keep herself restrained.
A smirk played on the girl's lips before she spoke and the recorded voice sounded through the warehouse. "I want him!"
"N-No!" Raven cried after seeing her finger pointed at Beast Boy and she dropped to the floor as she fought with her inner demon, the boxes and pipes dropping after her.
"But you on the other hand…you can be trouble and I can't let you foil my plan." With a giant leap, the pink feline reached up to the struggling Raven and shot out her claw.
"Raven!" the shape-shifter cried before suddenly, the ground in front of the half-demon turned to a make-shift shield.
The shield crumbled upon impact and Raven fell backwards before she looked up and her red eyes stared in awe as Terra stood with glowing yellow eyes in front of her.
"Don't touch my friends!" Terra shouted in rage and her hands shot up, causing cracks to appear on the celling before a part of the wall behind the former Titan shot at the cat-girl. She evaded with a jump before she simply smashed the next one, coming up in front of the blonde-haired girl and sending her fist into her stomach. Terra clenched her hands, the ground under her shaking before a piece of the floor caught the girl in her jaw and tripped backwards.
The blonde-haired girl suddenly gasped, realizing that the cracks didn't stop forming. "I-I…can't stop it!" she cried and dropped to her knees, trying to make the trembling under her stop as well.
"Yes, you can!"
Terra looked up at those words as the cracks around her began to grow longer.
"Don't fight her!" Beast Boy called.
Both, Raven and Terra looked in astonishment at the shape-shifter.
Nya-Nya looked in surprise at the scene that occurred around her before she chuckled, catching their attention. "I didn't know you had such a deep connection with each other," the recorded voice spoke before Nya-Nya stepped up to the shape-shifter and forced his eyes away from the two girls on the ground.
"Sono ketsugo o setsudan suru koto ga yori tanoshiku narimasu," Nya-Nya purred in delight before grabbing the shape-shifter by his arm and dragged him to the middle of the room.
"Makes it more fun to break that bond," the recorded voice said and all 3 looked up at the pink feline before she grinned cruelly at the male Titan.
Meanwhile Robin, Cyborg and Starfire found themselves on the coast of Jump City, looking back at their partially destroyed Tower as smoke rose from the upper part of it.
"I'd really like to know who managed to get past my security systems and plant a time-bomb inside the tower," Cyborg said angrily, still shocked to see that his beloved Tower was demolished by something so small. "I don't think it was a timer," Robin said, surprising the half-robot. "I think it was a sensor…or even remote controlled."
"So you mean there might be someone who has enough of the 'grudge' to try to destroy us from within our tower?" Starfire asked.
Robin lowered his gaze, his burning Tower bringing too much pain as a certain memory replayed in his head. "There are many villains who would if they had the chance, but didn't. So it must be someone…Beast Boy knows," he said and Cyborg stepped forward, knowing which direction the conversation was going to take.
"But it could be anyone who might have just some knowledge of our Tower. I mean Brother Blood also once got hold of my blueprints," the half-robot retorted.
"No, Cyborg! It must be someone close to Beast Boy. He said that someone right out came into his room and attacked him. So he certainly wouldn't look for information, valuables or such in Beast Boy's room. And do I need to tell you? Beast Boy was attacked in his sleep. If he hadn't been awake, he might even not be alive!"
Cyborg dropped his head, realizing that he had lost this argument.
"So you mean that the one who attacked Beast Boy…was Terra?" Starfire asked, gaining a confused stare from Cyborg.
Robin walked past her before he stopped briefly. "I don't want to believe it either. But it's either her…or Slade!"
"And you believe…Raven went after them?" Cyborg asked.
"I'm afraid so. She can't fight for long with those wounds she got from the explosion. We all can't. And that's why we only have to focus on Beast Boy and Raven. Whatever you do…don't get into any fight," Robin said, flinching as another jab of pain cruised through him. "Let's go!"
With that, the 3 Titans started their search.
A sudden beeping and blinking filled the warehouse and Nya-Nya cocked her head to the side. Beast Boy reached for the device in her hand before she took hold of his wrist.
"Oso sugiru," she spoke arrogantly…before crushing the communicator in her hand, causing 3 pairs of eyes to stare in disbelief at the remains on the floor. "Soredewa, saisho ni kare no kanjo ni ataeru dare ga mite mimashou…"
Her taunting words were followed by a pained scream from the shape-shifter as she twisted his wrist of the fist that was still in her grip.
"Beast Boy!"
Wanting to help but fearing their loss of control, the two girls remained on the ground, trying to get their powers to obey them.
The pink feline evaded a fist of the shape-shifter before grabbing his throat and lifting him one-handedly. The changeling shut his eyes as the pain gave rise to the familiar feeing of destruction – of wanting to release the Beast.
"It's not the thing inside of you that makes you a monster, but knowing when to let it out that makes you a man."
"You go. You're the hero."
How could he be a hero…if he couldn't even save himself? Maybe…now was the time to let it out – to lose control? That was how Terra defeated Slade – how Raven defeated Trigon – how he defeated Adonis.
He felt his strength slipping as the grip became tighter and he realized that he was running out of choices.
His eyes snapped open and blurred colors faced him.
And being overwhelmed with pure rage, the 3 teens let out earsplitting screams, before a sudden surge of energy flowed through them.